karen duckett is just one of the folks who will be affected. she survived breast cancer, yet doesn't know how she and her grandson will make ends meet once their benefits run out. the checks keep a roof over our head. i can't even imagine what we're going to do without that check. the cbo, the congressional budget office, says extending benefits another year will cost $30 billion, a small price tag when you consider other costs like extending tax cuts for millionaires. i'm joined tonight by john nichols, washington correspondent of "the nation" magazine. john, great to have you with us. you know, we focus on the deal, you know, who is going to get the tax break, where is the spending cuts, where are they going to come from. but in the backdrop of all of this, millions of americans have no security this christmas. they don't know whether their benefits are going to be extended. there is a lot of pain out there. who are these people? what should they do? >> these people are folks we know. my sister was unemployed for the better part of ten months